DJ Khaled graces the front cover of the June 17 issue of Billboard magazine and for his cover story, he revealed how his “I’m The One” single featuring Lil Wayne, Justin Bieber, Quavo, and Chance The Rapper came about.
In the interview, the DJ mentioned that Tunechi was the last one he added to the song, as well as that they first met at a record store in New Orleans when Tune was 12-years-old and Khaled was 19-years-old.
You can read exactly what DJ Khaled said about his “I’m The One” collaboration after the jump below and click here to read his full cover story!
It was early January, his first day in his Beverly Hills mansion, and he made the call. Bieber invited him to his place. “I hung up, jumped in the Rolls and brought a PA just to make sure I presented it right.”
They wound up listening to the track in Bieber’s truck, which, Khaled wonderingly says: “has stars in it, a reclining fur seat, shit like a movie”. The Biebs started bobbing his head. He liked it. Bieber said he’d play around with it. Before Khaled could leave, he made him play ground hockey. “I took the beating for the song.”
With Bieber onboard (Khaled’s directive: “I want a big, anthematic call-out hook”) the names of the would-be MCs came to Khaled all at once. Chance The Rapper was staying in Malibu, eating barbecue with his family when the DJ showed up. Chance recognized Khaled’s vision and was sold. Migos were coming to Los Angeles in mid-January to tape Jimmy Kimmel Live!, so Khaled booked a post-show room with them at Westlake Studios (where Thriller was made, because the track’s melody reminded him of “Human Nature”) and Quavo did his verse in five minutes. Then Khaled called Lil Wayne. The two met, famously, when Wayne was 12 and Khaled, 19, was a NOLA record shop clerk. “He’s never told me ‘no'”. Weezy knocked it out, and that was it — except Bieber wasn’t done. “I’m calling every day like: ‘Do you need me to bring you tea? Is the AC good in the house?’ Then he sends it. I’m not going to lie. I shed tears.”
